Anger as UK badger cull gets under way
Print Edition
A CULL of thousands of badgers aimed at combating tuberculosis in cattle has begun in Britain, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) said yesterday, sparking anger among animal rights activists.
Some 5,000 of the creatures are set to be shot under two pilot programs in southwest England aimed at stopping the spread of TB in cattle.
The NFU claims the controversial cull will save tens of thousands of cows from being slaughtered by limiting the spread of the disease from badgers.
But Britain’s biggest animal charity, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said badgers would suffer a slow, painful death and that the cull would “not solve the problems caused by this devastating disease.”
A dozen protesters have begun set up “Camp Badger” at Doniford Holt in Somerset, southwest England, vowing to stop the cull.
“We are just normal, peaceful people who are outraged,” said one protester, who gave her name as Carla.
The environmental agency Natural England issued a licence allowing farmers to cull badgers in parts of Somerset and neighboring Gloucestershire from June 1.
The pilot schemes were due to begin last year but were delayed after condemnation by wildlife experts and a campaign led by Queen guitarist Brian May.
NFU president Peter Kendall said farmers recognized the cull was divisive, but it was necessary to combat a disease that has cost the taxpayer 500 million pounds ($775m) over the past decade.
“We understand passions run high, but we’d ask (protesters) to remember not just the 5,000 badgers we’re talking about culling in these two pilot areas, but the 38,000 cattle slaughtered,” he said.
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